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The Short Version

I turn unusual and sometimes forgotten 13th-19th century works of English language Non-Fiction, Poetry and Prose into properly narrated, professionally produced audio books. I find books, edit them for a modern audience, record a narration track in my velvety tones (British Received Pronunciation, of course) and sell them through Amazon and the Apple store. But, as Patrons, you can:

Decide which project I work on next.

Get Patreon-exclusive ebooks and audio books.

Experience my inner monologue and creative angst.

...that's about it really.

Who?

The Man with a Cat is
James Barlow. The Cat is Perkin Warbeck. Over the course of the twenty first century, I (that is, James) have transitioned from a cog in the wheels of the corporate world to an edgy, arty, creative type. Sometimes I even stay up after midnight, and drink a shandy. In the course of this transformation, I obtained the aforementioned cat who accompanies me on my travels. Apart from having no money and many scratches, I am very satisfied with this lifestyle.

I have a long list of books, all public domain and mostly written in the 19th century, that I treat as my personal canon and I'm going to adapt them into properly narrated audio books. My approach to the task is to find three classic works that cover a topic of interest, and fold some of the individual chapters together to make a coherent and engaging story, with language updated for the modern reader. I'm not quite an author, but I'm not quite an editor either. I'd describe myself as a "Book Jockey", if that wasn't painfully unhip.

Why, Where and How?

I'm doing this mainly for my own amusement, but I've also spent far too much money on studio equipment and I have to justify the tax write-off. I would definitely like more money, though. My wife would also like more money. The cat is not bothered, as long as he gets fed regularly.

The Full [Man] Biography

James Barlow is a jack of all trades, and master of none. Well, maybe some. James doesn’t normally talk in the third person, but understands that it is the traditional grammatical style for biographical notes.
James provides Voice Overs and Narration for a variety of purposes. If you need a voiceover job done quick,you can find him on
Voicebunny.

A mathematician by education (B.A. (Open) Desmond), James consults on project and programme management, and is an expert in Lean Six Sigma with the certificates to prove it (most of them written in crayon, admittedly). He occasionally styles himself a Data Scientist if he thinks there is money to be had, and knows several different ways to lock up a computer using Python, Excel or
R.

James is a serial entrepreneur, and has started many businesses, all of which have stopped. Some abruptly, involving the deployment of airbags. He regards all of these as learning opportunities, and in particular he has learned that having money is nice, and not having money is not as nice. He discourages other entrepreneurs from solo-founding their new ventures, as every business always benefits from at least one extra pair of eyes, and someone to say “Hold on, this is a bloody stupid idea”.

Formerly a member of the Royal Corp of Signals, including a brief tour of duty as a peacekeeper with the NATO Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, James maintains an interest in the welfare and capability of British Forces, although personally he feels he’s done enough PT for one lifetime and is happy to sit on the sofa eating crisps. If the British Army finds itself in desperate need of an overweight telephone systems and HF radio specialist, James stands ready to return
to the front line to the rear echelon, with the proviso that he be promoted to Major, as he is too old to be taking any lip from subaltern officers.

The Full [Cat] Biography

Perkin Warbeck is a Filial No. 6 Stud Book Tradition Savannah Cat, Mother Pinellacatoca, Sire Tavon. At birth, he was known as Eckhart, but adopted the pseudonym Oliver for his career as the prime stud for Manimar Wildcats in Lincoln, siring 31 kittens in 9 litters. Subsequent to the mutually agreed conclusion of his exhausting but rewarding 6 month career, he elected to relocate to the South West of England to work on his memoirs and murder pigeons.

Rewards

Feline Benefactor

$1 or more per month

Send me a dollar, and you'll get absolutely nothing. Not a darn thing. Zilch. Zip. Nadda. Comfort yourself with the satisfaction of knowing that the Cat is a dollar richer; try to forget that you are a dollar poorer.

Goals

0% complete

When I reach $2000 a month, I'll hire someone to do first-draft editing and compilation tasks (which are fiddly for 19th century works), so I should be able to concentrate more on narration and produce twice as many books!

Buy Stuff!

The Short Version

I turn unusual and sometimes forgotten 13th-19th century works of English language Non-Fiction, Poetry and Prose into properly narrated, professionally produced audio books. I find books, edit them for a modern audience, record a narration track in my velvety tones (British Received Pronunciation, of course) and sell them through Amazon and the Apple store. But, as Patrons, you can:

Decide which project I work on next.

Get Patreon-exclusive ebooks and audio books.

Experience my inner monologue and creative angst.

...that's about it really.

Who?

The Man with a Cat is
James Barlow. The Cat is Perkin Warbeck. Over the course of the twenty first century, I (that is, James) have transitioned from a cog in the wheels of the corporate world to an edgy, arty, creative type. Sometimes I even stay up after midnight, and drink a shandy. In the course of this transformation, I obtained the aforementioned cat who accompanies me on my travels. Apart from having no money and many scratches, I am very satisfied with this lifestyle.

I have a long list of books, all public domain and mostly written in the 19th century, that I treat as my personal canon and I'm going to adapt them into properly narrated audio books. My approach to the task is to find three classic works that cover a topic of interest, and fold some of the individual chapters together to make a coherent and engaging story, with language updated for the modern reader. I'm not quite an author, but I'm not quite an editor either. I'd describe myself as a "Book Jockey", if that wasn't painfully unhip.

Why, Where and How?

I'm doing this mainly for my own amusement, but I've also spent far too much money on studio equipment and I have to justify the tax write-off. I would definitely like more money, though. My wife would also like more money. The cat is not bothered, as long as he gets fed regularly.

The Full [Man] Biography

James Barlow is a jack of all trades, and master of none. Well, maybe some. James doesn’t normally talk in the third person, but understands that it is the traditional grammatical style for biographical notes.
James provides Voice Overs and Narration for a variety of purposes. If you need a voiceover job done quick,you can find him on
Voicebunny.

A mathematician by education (B.A. (Open) Desmond), James consults on project and programme management, and is an expert in Lean Six Sigma with the certificates to prove it (most of them written in crayon, admittedly). He occasionally styles himself a Data Scientist if he thinks there is money to be had, and knows several different ways to lock up a computer using Python, Excel or
R.

James is a serial entrepreneur, and has started many businesses, all of which have stopped. Some abruptly, involving the deployment of airbags. He regards all of these as learning opportunities, and in particular he has learned that having money is nice, and not having money is not as nice. He discourages other entrepreneurs from solo-founding their new ventures, as every business always benefits from at least one extra pair of eyes, and someone to say “Hold on, this is a bloody stupid idea”.

Formerly a member of the Royal Corp of Signals, including a brief tour of duty as a peacekeeper with the NATO Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, James maintains an interest in the welfare and capability of British Forces, although personally he feels he’s done enough PT for one lifetime and is happy to sit on the sofa eating crisps. If the British Army finds itself in desperate need of an overweight telephone systems and HF radio specialist, James stands ready to return
to the front line to the rear echelon, with the proviso that he be promoted to Major, as he is too old to be taking any lip from subaltern officers.

The Full [Cat] Biography

Perkin Warbeck is a Filial No. 6 Stud Book Tradition Savannah Cat, Mother Pinellacatoca, Sire Tavon. At birth, he was known as Eckhart, but adopted the pseudonym Oliver for his career as the prime stud for Manimar Wildcats in Lincoln, siring 31 kittens in 9 litters. Subsequent to the mutually agreed conclusion of his exhausting but rewarding 6 month career, he elected to relocate to the South West of England to work on his memoirs and murder pigeons.

Recent posts by a Man with a Cat

Rewards

Feline Benefactor

$1 or more per month

Send me a dollar, and you'll get absolutely nothing. Not a darn thing. Zilch. Zip. Nadda. Comfort yourself with the satisfaction of knowing that the Cat is a dollar richer; try to forget that you are a dollar poorer.